Leo needed anonymity above all else



He shared some secrets with his best-beloved wife, but most of them stayed camouflaged as shadows cast by fairy tales, as invisible as never-was, their existence never guessed at ... and yet, and yet, there was no doubt he emanated mystery, invited investigation, tempted men and (mainly) women to wonder what he did when so long away from home, no longer dancing passionate attendance on his plain, and plainly undeserving, puzzlingly well-worshipped… Continue

Liz, well aware that at first glance she failed to attract attention, had the wit (had wits aplenty if the truth be known but preferred to keep them hid) to supplement her lack of looks with other skills, one of which was to attract and keep the friends she loved with fabulous, well-cooked food.



By twenty-two… Continue

Liz, over-quickly quaffing Chloë’s excellent champagne, had forgotten the calamitously confessional effect even an eggcupful of fizz had on her conversation and also that she’d not eaten since her six a.m. cereal. So before she began spilling more than beans she headed for the cloakroom, clutching her glass as if in absent-mindedness, with the intention of downing a pint or so of water so as to speedily dilute any alcoholic effects.



The still comatose Tony caused her to… Continue

Caroline had long gone, Felix having been forced to recognise the advisability of taking her home, and Tony had taken himself and a bottle of wine to the storeroom where he now slept, sweat damp, dishevelled and odorous, but nevertheless comfortable, for the time being, on a pile of cardboard and bubblewrap.



As the final guests left the gallery, Chloë locked the door and dimmed the central lights, so that only the paintings were spotlit; the corner where she now stood with Liz and… Continue

Leo, little-known and restless, exuding feral hunger, his active, outdoor body contrasting with most of the other men present, since they appeared accustomed to being clothed, was afforded more genuine, more avid attention than Annabel’s paintings, to the extent that she was grateful that he studied them with a far from casual interest and an air of noli me tangere, no mean feat when virtually every woman in the room was angling for his… Continue

At last, the Private View, and Annabel’s anticipation was tinged with understandable apprehension: all those months of work, the last two especially intensive, and alarmingly soon the results would be exposed to the public’s gaze, and judgement.



Felix was in two minds, relieved that the increasing abbreviation of activity between him and Annabel, which had become quick and simple to the point of famine as time was taken up with frantic framing, was at an end and, as one of the few who… Continue